


The Ship Game

by klewi00



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Hot Topic, M/M, Random - Freeform, idk - Freeform, maybe a crackfic, myrtle beach, ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 14:08:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3939703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klewi00/pseuds/klewi00
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So, this is gonna be kind of weird, and I don't know what's really gonna happen, but bear with me. (So, first of all, I'm way too lazy to actually come up with names, so I'm just gonna use mine and my own stepsister's name, and I don't actually want to deal with family people in this fanfic, so that's why they're gonna be college-aged) Basically, a couple of stepsisters in college find a game at Hot Topic called The Ship Game. About to leave for a weeklong summer vacation at Myrtle Beach (sorry, Ash, if you're reading this. I just think the Free! guys would enjoy the place), they buy the game to play while there. They're currently obssessed with Free!, so some stuff kind of happens, and there are ships, and stuff. Yeah, like I said, I don't know what's going to happen...Hope you enjoy!<br/>This is also on my Quotev (Madame Fluffington III) and my Wattpad (klewi00).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**~Day of Departure~**

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

Walking into the Hot Topic at Easton, I turned to Ashlyn, my stepsister, and said, "Hey, I actually have time to buy the Free! shirt."

 

"You have fun with that," she answered, as she walked off to the Supernatural section. While I walked over to the part of the store where the shirt I was looking for was, I couldn't help but turn to look at something else that caught my eye. On one of the shelves was what looked to be some small sort of box with a title that read, "The Ship Game."

 

"Hey Ash," I called. "Come over here."

 

My friend meandered her way over to where I was standing holding the box in my hand. "What's that?" she asked, curiously looking at the box in my hand.

 

"I don't know," I replied. "It's called The Ship Game." I flipped it over and read from the back. "'Have fun with any number of your ships! It's better than fanfiction! Good for any fandom.' Sounds kind of interesting, huh?"

 

"Katie, you're getting that. Forget about the shirt, you need that," Ash said.

 

I laughed a little and said, "In theory, I could get both of them, seeing as I somehow have the money to do so..."

 

"Then do it, if you want," she said.

 

In the end, although it's irrelevant, I did get both. When we got home, I put the game into the suitcase I was bringing with me to Myrtle Beach. We'd be leaving tonight, around nine, so that we'd be in South Carolina by around six or so in the morning.

 

"Hey wait a second," Ash said as I was putting the game into my suitcase. "Don't you wanna try it out now?"

 

"I guess, sure," I answered. We opened the box just to find a sheet of paper.

 

"Well, that was anticlimatic," Ash stated. I nodded while taking out the paper, and starting to read from it.

 

"'Step 1: Find a partner to play it with.' Done," I said. "'Step 2: Choose a fandom.' Which one should we do, Ash?"

 

"How about Free!?" she suggested.

 

"Alright," I said, and continued to read from the paper. "'WARNING – BEFORE YOU GO ON TO THE NEXT STEP, PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU CAN HANDLE **ANYTHING** THAT HAPPENS. IT. CAN. GET. WEIRD. Step 3: Close your eyes and believe. Believe in your ships, in the characters, in the fandom. Believe in it in all of it's wholeness for a full five minutes. Step 4: Do whatever you want with your ships; take bets on them, fangirl or fanboy over them, write them down in some random fanfiction, whatever! But have fun!'"

 

"So, we have to believe in our ships and the fandom?" Ash asked, although it sounded more like a statement.

 

"I guess..." I said, a little unsure from the warning.

 

"That sure sounds cheesy, but let's go for it," she said.

 

"Well, before we do any believing, it did have that warning, so let's only select cetain characters to believe in," I said.

 

"Alright," Ash agreed. "How about Haru, Makoto, Rei, Nagisa, and Rin."

 

"Well, obvoiusly the main five," I said. "Can we add Sousuke, Momo, and Nitori to the list?"

 

"Definitely," she answered.

 

Then we proceeded with the "believing" process. Honestly, it seemed kind of weird, but it was fun imagining the characters there, or imagining my ships being canon. It was a little weird since I had overlapping ships, and everything, and a few crack ships, like Haru x water, but it didn't matter. As soon as the five minutes were up, we opened our eyes to find all eight of the characters we were believing in standing in front of us with slightly confused expressions.

 

"Holy..." I said. "I...what the Chuck???"

 

"Oh my Chuck!" Ash said, beginning to fangirl. "Are they...? Are they actually real?" She reached out and poked Rei in the stomach. Her arm didn't go through him or anything, and Rei made a sound of protest. Both of us lost control and released our inner fangirl.

 

"HOLY MOTHER OF CHUCK THIS IS AWESOME!!!" I shouted. "I never thought that they would go that far, like how did this even happen?"

 

"I don't know, but it sure is better than fanfiction!" Ash said.

 

"Maybe it works kind of like how the tulpa did in Supernatural," I suggested.

 

"Does it even really matter?" Ash asked. Lowering her voice, she said, "There are eight hot, gay, anime boys sitting right here in front of us. This is the time when you don't question how they got there, you simply embrace the ships and the character depth that is real and tangible."

 

I nodded, and kept fangirling until Rin asked, "Okay, can one of you please explain how the heck we got here?!"

 

Ash stepped up to the plate and said, "So basically, there was this game that we found at a store, and it must have summoned you all here."

 

"In the world that you're in now," I continued. "You guys are part of an anime called Free! that many people here watch. Currently, you are in the United States. Ohio, to be exact. Anyway, my stepsister, Ashlyn, and I were just about to leave on a vacation to a place a few states down called Myrtle Beach, and I think you'd all like it."

 

"Hold on, this is a lot to take in," Rin said, and was about to continue, but Haru cut him off, saying:

 

"Myrtle... _ Beach? _ " he said. "So it's a beach. With, like, an ocean. And water."

 

"Yes," I said. "The Atlantic Ocean. And the hotel we're planning on staying at has its own pools and everything, so I think you'll be perfectly happy, Haru."

 

"We're going," Haru said decidedly.

 

"HOLD ON! Like I said earlier, this is a LOT to take in!" Rin said. "We are in the UNITED STATES, where they speak ENGLISH! What we're hearing is Japanese! Do you understand how confused I am?!?!?!"

 

"That's weird, we're hearing English," Ash said.

 

I, on the other hand, was fangirling. I said, "Oh my God this is just like a head-canon I came up with. I figured a while back that if anime characters ever crossed over into our world, they'd hear whatever language they spoke, and we'd hear whatever language we spoke! And it kind of seems like the whole dimension thing with the fandoms that we thought of is true too! That every fandom is its own seperate dimension!!!"

 

Rin collapsed onto the floor, obviously confused, and tired of trying to understand it. "Okay," he said. "Whatever. It doesn't matter."

 

"Hey, just act normally," I said. "So what if this is a different dimension for you? You guys don't look like you're from an anime, you look like real human beings. Even if people recognize you, they'll probably just assume you're really good cosplayers, or something. Just don't tell anyone that you're really from an anime, and you'll be good."

 

All of them nodded. Then Makoto spoke up and said, "So, when are we leaving?" I checked my watch. It was 5:23 pm. We had some time.

 

"We're going to be leaving at nine, but I know that there's not enough room in my car for all of you, so I guess I'll have to figure something else out..." I said.

 

"We can get a creeper van," Ash suggested, referring to one of those white vans that we had always referred to as creeper vans.

 

"Yeah, actually that's a good idea," I said. "But you'll need to come with me to drive my car back."

 

Ash nodded and told the guys, "Just believe, and your luggage will come." To me, once we got in the car, she said, "Maybe if we believe hard enough, money will come. It seems like believing in stuff is making it appear out of thin air."

 

"Yeah, maybe," I said. Even so, I tried it, and somehow, random money materialized in the back seat. "I think I kinda like this whole believing thing," I said.

 

We laughed, and continued on our way to get the van.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I typed up the first chapter. I have to admit, I'm kind of proud of it. It's definitely weird as heck, but it's fun. And, no, sadly this didn't actually happen, but it sure would be pretty darned awesome if it did, right? (And in case you didn't know, I don't think there actually is a real game sold known as The Ship Game, and even if there was, I don't think they mastered the science of crossing over dimensions, yet.) Please enjoy the rest of this story!!!


	2. Chapter 2

**~Katie~**

 

 

"Are we there yet?!" whined Nagisa.

 

With an eye twitching and my jaw clenched, I answered, "Not. Even. Close. We left maybe an hour ago. Please, calm yourself."

 

We were on the way to South Carolina, and Nagisa had asked whether we were there yet at least ten times. I was about ready to pull the van over and strangle him.

 

Earlier, while going to get the van, Ash and I finally decided what we would do with the ships. We were taking bets on which ones would become canon for the ones that we didn't agree on. We were going to keep track of how many moments each ship had, regardless of other ships that may become canon along the way.

 

 

"So, which ships?" I'd asked.

 

"Reigisa, Aimomo, Makoharu, Sourin, Haru x water, and Nitori x Rin," she'd said.

 

"Don't forget Rinharu and Soumako," I had added.

 

"Alright. So...how much are you betting on those two?" she asked.

 

"Ummm..." I began. "I don't know...Maybe twenty bucks per ship?"

 

"Fifty per," Ash negotiated. "Don't forget that we can believe."

 

"Alright, fine," I said.

 

 

An hour or two later, we were in West Virginia, and I hadn't heard anything from any of the guys recently. I looked in the mirror to find Makoto staring out the window, Rin leaning against the opposite window asleep while listening to music, Haru in between the two, listening to music and staring straight ahead. In the row behind them, Nitori and Momo looked like they were starting to drift off a little. Sousuke was in between them with his head between his knees, so I souldn't tell if he'd fallen asleep or not. Behind them, Nagisa had fallen asleep on Rei's shoulder. Rei either didn't notice or didn't care, and was staring blankly out the window.

 

I nudged Ash, gestured behind me with my head, and mouthed, 'Look at Nagisa.' She looked and turned back around with a Cheshire cat grin. Then she took out a leather notebook that had all the ship names in it and put a tally next to the "Reigisa" one.

 

A few more miles, and there was an exit for a gas station. It would probably be a good idea to stop and let everyone stretch a little, go to the bathroom. Ash and I could get some caffine and trade off drivers.

 

"Hey guys," I said, waking up Momo, Nitori, Rei, and Nagisa. Makoto wasn't asleep, so he just turned to pay attention; same with Sousuke. Ash snapped her fingers in Haru's and Rin's faces, and they paused their music and put their headphones around their necks.

 

"Okay, so I'm gonna stop off at this next gas station if you need to go to the bathroom, stretch a little, maybe get something to eat," I told them. They all groggily nodded.

 

When I parked at the convenience store, everyone clambored out and trudged into the store. Rei got some coffee – black. The others kind of just went to the bathroom and climbed back into the van and started to fall asleep again. Sousuke was buying a bag of chips. Makoto was behind him, so he turned around and offered to buy him one, too. I tapped Ash and pointed. Although I knew she didn't ship it as hard as some of her others, she still fangirled a little. We both kind of lived by the rule, "Ship all the ships." Ash pulled out her notebook and marked a tally by Soumako.

 

Once everyone was back in the car, Ash pulled out and continued us on our path to South Carolina. I got myself comfortable and sort of got to that place in between sleep and wakefulness. I had always had trouble sleeping in moving vehicles. I was vaguely aware of Sou, Mako, Haru, and Rin talking quietly while the others slept. Something about water, and something about how strange everything was, and there was Haru's voice arguing that it didn't really matter, it was kind of interesting, and a few sounds of agreement from the others. Eventually I slipped into full-on unconciousness.

 

 

**~Day of Arrival~**

 

 

Six hours, two stops, and a couple states later and we were near the border of North Carolina and South Carolina, and the sun was rising up. Everyone but me, Ash, Makoto, and Haru was asleep. To be honest, I wasn't really sure if Mako slept at all, but it didn't matter, it looked like they were about to have a moment.

 

Ash also saw the possible moment and trained her eyes on the rear view mirror. Haru was kind of staring out at the sunrise and how the sun fell on the pines everywhere with an awed expression on his face. Well, as awed as Haru can look. Mako noticed and commented, "Pretty sunrise, huh?" giving him his signature smile that only Makoto can do. Haru nodded silently, still in awe.

 

Ash could barely contain her joy at one of her ships being shippy. She quickly ripped out her notebook and scribbled a tally by their ship name. Even I – a die-hard Rinharu shipper – couldn't deny that they were kind of adorable.

 

I turned to Ash and said, "I figure we could make it into South Carolina before we stop for breakfast Give it about fifteen, twenty minutes and I'm sure we could find something."

 

"Yeah, that sounds like a good plan," Ash responded, stretching and shifting in her seat.

 

Ten minutes or so and we crossed the border into South Carolina. I looked for the nearest sign that showed food stops.

 

"IHOP sound good?" I asked. Ash nodded, so I took the next exit and found the IHOP.

 

"Hey guys, wake up," I said to those who were asleep. I got only Rei and Sousuke to open their eyes.

 

"HEY, YO, GUYS! PANCAKES!" Ash yelled. She startled Momo and Nitori awake, and Rin somehow heard her through his headphones. The only one still not awake was Nagisa. Dang, he was lucky to be able to actually sleep in a car...

 

"Rei, could you please wake up Nagisa?" I asked.

 

"Sure," he answered, and shook him awake.

 

Nagisa yawned, stretched, rubbed his eyes and groggily asked, "Are we there yet?"

 

We all kind of laughed, because it was pretty adorable, and Makoto answered, "Well, we're in the same state, right?"

 

"Yep," Ash answered. "We're stopping for breakfast at IHOP: the International House Of Pancakes."

 

"OH MY GOD, PANCAKES!!!" Momo yelled, clamboring not-so-gracefully over Sousuke, landing on Nitori, and wrenching the door open.

 

"Hey, wait up, Momo!" Nitori called, jumping out of the van after him.

 

I looked to Ash, and she marked another tally in her notebook. Then the rest of us followed into the resteraunt. To the clerk I said, "There's ten of us..."

 

With a flustered smile, she collected ten menus and brought us to a couple of tables that she pushed together. "There you go," she said, still smiling to be nice, but I could tell she found it overwhelming.

 

So we ate. Everybody was really hungry, so we all ate well. Momo kept stealing food off of Nitori's plate, so Ash made another mark in her notebook.

 

Once we were finished, I announced, "Okay, so we have about thirty minutes or so left, and then we'll be at the hotel. Ready to hit the road?"

 

They all groaned at me, but still walked back to the van. As I started to unlock it, Ash stole the keys out of my hand and said, "I'm driving." I raised my hands up in mock defense and climbed into the passenger seat.

 

Now that everyone was rested and fed, there was a lot more noise in the vehicle. Nagisa kept pointing out every souvenir shop he could find, even though they all sold basically the exact same thing (except for one, called 'Badd Kitty' but I'm not going to go into detail on that one...) Momo requested that we go get frozen yogurt tonight after dinner or something. As we were driving on Ocean Boulevard, which was the street that our hotel was on, we could see the ocean. That also meant that Haru could see the ocean...When he spotted it, his eyes lit up, he yanked off his shirt, and reached for the door. Rin and Mako managed to restrain him, saying, "No, Haru, you can't jump out of a moving vehicle! Besides, we'll be able to go in the ocean later!"

 

"Does that count?" I asked Ashlyn.

 

"Yeah," she said, taking out her notebook again and handing it to me so I could mark it under the Haru x water ship. She pulled into the parking garage across from the hotel. We got out and walked across the road to it and went inside to get a room.

 

"Welcome to the Caribbean, how many are in your party?" the hotel clerk asked.

 

"We have ten..." I answered.

 

Unlike the IHOP lady, this guy didn't show it if he was surprised by the amount of people that needed a room. "Alright," he said. "You're in luck. The room we have that can accomodate that many people is open. It's the penthouse suite on the 21st floor. Although, there are only six beds – two twins and four fulls – so I don't know if..."

 

"Oh don't worry, it's fine," I said, smiling evilly on the inside. "I think I'd better take this one; the chances of finding another hotel that can house ten people in one room are pretty slim, right?"

 

The clerk laughed, and got all the information he needed, and said I'd get a call when the room was ready.

 

"Okay, guys, who wants to go to Starbucks?" I asked enthusiastically.

 

To humor me, everyone else entusiastically responded, "YEAH!" while raising their fists in the air. So we walked over to the Starbucks.

 

 

**Moment Count:**

Rinharu – 0

Makoharu – 1

Reigisa – 1

Aimomo – 2

Sourin – 0

Soumako – 1

Nitori x Rin – 0

Haru x water – 1

 


	3. Chapter 3

**~Katie~**

 

 

As we were walking around the town, I got a call from the hotel to tell us that the room was ready. I told them we'd be there shortly, and sent Ash to guide the others back to the hotel. I went to go get the van from the parking garage, as our luggage was there. I pulled it into the hotel parking lot and was met by Sousuke trying to get Momo and Nagisa off of the luggage rack.

 

We got all of our stuff onto the rack, got a room key for everyone, and wheeled it into the elevator and walked it to the room.

 

"Alright guys," I said, unlocking the door. "Here's our room." I opened the door to find Kisumi chilling on the couch.

 

"IT WORKED!!!" Ash yelled, running over to him.

 

"How'd I get here?" he asked.

 

"Ash must have believed you here..." I answered.

 

"Seems legit," Kisumi said, and went back to chilling out.

 

"Hey, wait a second, he can't stay here, we only have six beds!" I realized.

 

"He can sleep on the couch," Ash answered. I just shrugged and started getting everybody's bags sorted out.

 

I moved my stuff onto one of the twin beds and Ash moved hers onto the other twin in that room. There was another room on this side and three on the other. Each of which had full beds.

 

"HEY, WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?!?!?!?!" came Rin's voice from one of the rooms.

 

We walked out and asked, "What's wrong?"

 

"There's only four other beds!!!" he answered.

 

"Very good observation skills," was Ash's reply.

 

Rin scowled and continued, "That means the rest of us minus Kisumi will all have to share a bed..."

 

"I'll share a bed!" Kisumi yelled from his couch.

 

"Shut up!" Rin yelled. "Stay on your couch!"

 

"Well," I began. "Is it really the end of the world if you have to share? Sharing is caring, you know..."

 

Ash was laughing at the dilemma, Rin's scowl deepened, and everyone else was just kind of standing around in assorted levels of annoyance, ranging from Nagisa's blank smile to Rei's more troubled expression.

 

"Just go with it," Haru said to Rin. "It may not be normal in Australia, but it could be normal here."

 

Rin sighed in defeat and said, "Fine," and I thought I heard him mumble something like, "This is just like in Australia...only with less platypuses..."

 

Nitori started to walk up to him, saying, "Rin-sen-" But he was cut off by Momo throwing his arms around his neck and yelling, "Come on, Nitori-senpai! We can share like we did last year in high school!"

 

Ash laughed while marking two dashes in her notebook. Nagisa dragged Rei back to the room that was on the same side as ours, and Rin claimed Haru as his roommate, which left Sousuke and Mako.

 

Mako just smiled brightly, tilted his head to the side and said, "Well, I guess we're rooming together." He gathered up his stuff and moved into the room closest to the door on that side. Sousuke just kind of glanced away, nodded, and brought his stuff in, too.

 

Ash marked three more tallies in her notebook with a crazy fangirl smile on her face. It kinda looked like she was mumbling under her breath something like, "The ships...the yaoi...hahahah...such fangirl..."

 

 

We finally got all of our things unpacked. Ash and I had the room on the left side walking in that was closest to the door. Across the hall from us were Mako and Sou. Next to that room was a washer and dryer. In between mine and the other room on that side was one of the three bathrooms. The room on the other side was Rei's and Nagisa's, which had a sliding door onto the balcony and its own bathroom. After the washer and dryer, it opened up into the kitchen and living room, where Kisumi would be sleeping on the couch. On the opposite side from Rei and Nagisa's room were Momo and Nitori (nearer to the kitchen) and Rin and Haru (which also had a door onto the balcony.) The living room, as well, had a door to the balcony. Between the Rinharu and Aimomo rooms was a third bathroom, which was very good considering there were eleven people here.

 

Ash was talking to me saying, "Well, on the way to the hotel, I was teaching them all the shot game, remember?" The shot game was invented by my father when we were thirteen. Basically, whenever we saw someone wearing booty shorts, we would yell, "SHOT!" It was also sometimes known as people-watching.

 

"Yeah, I remember," I said. All of a sudden, Nitori and Momo burst into the room.

 

"Hey, have either of you seen Rin-senpai and Yamazaki-senpai?" Nitori asked.

 

"Not recently..." I said.

 

"Okay, then, it's time to check outside," Momo said.

 

"Hey wait!" came Mako's voice. "I think that they were talking about borrowing the van for something. They left a few minutes ago, so they should be pulling out now."

 

 

"Oh my God," I said, annoyed, and walked over toward the elevators.

 

 

**~Rin~**

 

 

"Okay, that's cool, she left the keys in the center console," I said, taking the keys out and starting up the van. "Got the song ready, Sou?"

 

"Yep," he answered and showed me his phone, which currently had the song "Shots," by LMFAO up. The phone was connected to the van's sound system. We started making our way out of the parking garage, and Sousuke turned the song on. As soon as we were out of the garage, we turned it up to full volume, and started playing the shot game that Ash taught us earlier.

 

Once we were outside of the garage, we saw Ash, Katie, Makoto, Ai, and Momo running out of the hotel. We waved to them and then continued down the road, pointing at those in booty shorts during the chorus. In the side mirror, I saw them start to run after us, Ash trying to write something in her notebook and laughing, Katie and Mako looking slightly concerned, and Ai and Momo trying to keep up with them.

 

"HEY GET BACK HERE!!!" Katie yelled at us.

 

Sousuke stuck his head out of the open back window on my side to yell back, "JUST LET US FINISH THE SONG!!!" Then he pulled his head back in and sat back in that seat as she was saying, "No! Come back!"

 

After driving a few more streets down Ocean Boulevard, the song ended, and Sousuke disconnected his phone from the van. I found a place to turn around and pulled back into the parking garage. 66 shots in four minutes.

 

We came out of the parking garage laughing like we were patients in an insane asylum. When we crossed the street to the hotel, the five who were outside approached us. Ashlyn was still laughing, Makoto had cracked a smile, Ai and Momo were kind of laughing, and Katie looked like she was pissed but fighting back laughter anyway.

 

"For the record," she began. "That was hilarious. But I'm still pretty sure it was illegal!"

 

"Well, we didn't get in trouble, so I think everything's okay," I answered.

 

She sighed and kinda started chuckling. "Okay, good point, but don't do it again," she said.

 

"And if you do, bring me with you!" Ash added.

 

"Well, we should probably get heading back," Katie said. "Maybe we can go swim."

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

Back in the room, as soon as I walked in, I said, "Haru!"

 

In a matter of seconds, he was standing in front of me. Like a ninja...

 

"Yeah?" he asked.

 

"We were just thinking that all of us should go downstairs and-" I started.

 

"No," he said cutting me off and turning away.

 

"You didn't let me finish," I said. "But, I guess, if you didn't want to swim...that's okay..."

 

At those words, he turned back around with some strange light in his eyes. It was the closest thing to emoting I'd seen him do this whole trip.

 

"That's what I thought," I said with a smug grin. "Hey guys, we're gonna go swim if you wanna come!" No one really listened to me.

 

"Come on, losers, we're going swimming!" Ash yelled after marking a tally in her notebook for Haru x water.

 

I laughed at the reference and changed into my swimsuit. Haru, of course, already had his on under his clothes. With everyone changed, we all headed down to the pools and beach.

 

 

After a few hours of swimming, we had to tear Haru from the ocean, and then look for Momo and Nitori who had drifted eleven hotels down without realizing it.

 

"Sorry, we were just having too much fun we didn't notice," Nitori said. Then they started to walk back.

 

Ash leaned over to me and whispered, "Ship!" I laughed and nodded. After changing back at the hotel (and Ash marking yet another tally), we headed to a seafood place to eat. By that time it was getting kind of late, so we decided to go to sleep for the night.

 

"Oh my Chuck, I never thought the Ship Game would be this fun!" Ash said.

 

"I know, right?" I agreed. "Well, good night."

 

"Night."

 

 

**Moment Count:**

Rinharu – 1

Makoharu – 1

Reigisa – 2

Aimomo – 4

Sourin – 1

Soumako – 2

Nitori x Rin – 1

Haru x water – 2

 


	4. Chapter 4

**~Day 1~**

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

I awoke the next morning around five. I couldn't quite figure out why, but I thought that I heard people's voices.

 

"What on earth...?" I muttered, rolling over and getting up, because what else was I supposed to do? Listening more closely, I DID hear voices. It sounded like Rin and Haru.

 

"Hey, Haru, where are you going?" Rin asked.

 

"I'm going swimming," Haru answered.

 

"You set your alarm for that?" Rin's voice.

 

There was a silence that was most likely Haru giving Rin a "really, of course I did" look. Then there were footsteps.

 

"Hey, Haru wait up!" Rin said. "I don't even think the pools are open!"

 

"Then I'll go to the ocean," Haru answered. There was the sound of the door opening and closing. Then quick footsteps and Rin muttering to himself, "Haru!"

 

Sighing, I put on my flip flops and followed them downstairs. "Really, guys?" I said to myself as I took the elevator down. At the ground floor, I continued to talk to myself. "This early in the morning? He has to swim? What even is this? And the beach doesn't technically open until, like, ten!" *sigh...*

 

 

**~Haru~**

 

 

I woke up early that morning to go swim. Why would I not? Rin decided to follow me, and was saying something about the pools not being open. Well, they couldn't close the ocean, could they?

 

In the overhanging with the pools, Rin started talking again, saying, "Okay, so what if there were people down on the beach? No one was in the water! I think they close it until a certain time."

 

"You don't know that," I said, and continued walking towards the beach. I heard Rin's scowl in his sigh, and he kept following me.

 

I opened the gate, walked down the stairs, and then started sprinting towards the sea. "Haru!" Rin yelled from behind me, as his pace quickened to catch up.

 

Right at the edge of the water, some random person said, "Hey, you can't go in the water until ten."

 

Rin, out of breath, laughed and said, "I told you so." He walked forward and stood by my side. I was watching the rising sun reflect off of the water. Even more majestic than the waterless sunrise in North Carolina.

 

"It looks cool reflecting off the water like that, huh, Haru?" Rin asked. I nodded and looked away.

 

Behind us, Katie's voice started speaking, "Hey guys, why are you up so early?"

 

"You're one to talk," I said.

 

"Well, I wake up when I hear people's voices," she answered. "And then I heard that you guys were coming down to the beach, and I wanted to make sure you knew it wasn't open yet."

 

"We recently found that out," Rin said.

 

"Okay. You're welcome to come back any time," she said, and turned and started walking back to the hotel.

 

"Well, maybe we can't swim in the ocean," Rin said, turning back to me. "But we can always walk in the tide." I nodded.

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

As soon as I knew I was out of sight of Rin and Haru, I sprinted to the elevators and waited impatiently for one to come down.

 

Back up in the room, I woke Ash up, said, "SHIP," and ran out of the room and onto the balcony. Ash wandered sleepily out there with her notebook.

 

"Which ship?" she asked, yawning.

 

"Rinharu," I answered. "They woke up around five to go swim, but they didn't realize that the pools and ocean weren't open, so now they're walking along the edge of the ocean."

 

Ash started to wake up talking about ships, but was obviously mad I woke her up. She marked a tally, and said, "Okay, but I'm going back to sleep."

 

"Okay. Sorry," I said. I watched them walk a few hotels down, then decided to go back to sleep.

 

 

After breakfast at a more human hour of ten, we headed down to the beach to swim. Haru was swimming like the dolphin he is. Or maybe mermaid. Either way, he was majestic. Nagisa had bought a frisbee earlier, so he, Rei, Momo, Nitori, Kisumi, Rin, Ash, and I were in the middle of a very heated game of monkey-in-the-middle. I was in the middle...

 

"Come on guys, throw it lower!" I yelled, as I jumped and missed yet another throw. I wasn't short or anything; I just sucked at this game.

 

"It's not our fault you can't catch!" Rin yelled back catching the frisbee thrown by Rei and then being toppled over by a wave. He quickly resurfaced and laughed, then threw the frisbee to Ash, who caught it.

 

 

**~Makoto~**

 

 

I was sitting on the towels we'd laid out on the beach. I was still a little nervous about going in the ocean, yet, so I just watched the others play with the frisbee.

 

I saw Rin catch the disc and then immediately be knocked underwater by a wave, and I tensed up. When he came back up a second later, I relaxed and chastised myself for freaking out.

 

"Scared of the ocean?" a voice from behind me said. I turned around to find Sousuke, who had apparently been standing there the whole time.

 

I nodded. "A little," I admitted. "What about you? Why aren't you in the water?"

 

"My shoulder's still messed up, so..." he said.

 

"Well, you wouldn't have to go into deep water," I said.

 

"Okay, but you would have to come, too," he said. Then with a smile he added, "It would only be fair."

 

We waded out to the others and joined their circle around poor Katie, who'd been stuck in the middle for a good ten minutes now.

 

"Hey, nice of you to join the game!" Ash called. "I see Mako got over his fear of oceans for a little bit."

 

"I got him to come in," Sousuke called back. Then Ash shot a look to Katie, who shot the same one back.

 

"Alright," Ash said. Then she yelled, "Mako, heads up!" and threw the frisbee my way.

 

 

**~Sousuke~**

 

 

We went on playing the monkey-in-the-middle for a while. Katie got out of the circle once, but only because Makoto was being the nice guy he is and let her catch it. He got back out quickly because Katie not only can't catch, but she can't throw either.

 

A few more minutes, and I get hit in the head with the frisbee. Hard. My head was hurting now, both headache-wise, and because of the frisbee. "I'm gonna go get some ice," I said, and started walking back to the hotel.

 

"Wait up, Sousuke!!!" I heard Kisumi yell from behind me. Oh, God. He was the last person I wanted to deal with right now.

 

He followed me all the way up to the room. After a while of me sitting down holding ice to my head, Kisumi asked, "Is your head feeling better?"

 

"Yes," I answered, which for the most part it was, but I kind of just wanted him to go away. It didn't work.

 

"Yay, so we can go back down and play frisbee again?" he asked.

 

"No," I answered.

 

"What? Why not?" Kisumi asked.

 

I sighed and said, "You want to play a game?"

 

"Yes!" he said, his eyes lighting up.

 

"Okay, let's play a game called spy," I said. I went to my room, got a rope, and tied it securely around Kisumi's stomach.

 

"Okay," he said, completely unfased by the rope. "How do we play?"

 

"First you have to come with me out onto the balcony," I answered, walking him over. "Now just step over the railing..."

 

"Like this?" Kisumi asked, still completely calm. How thick was this kid?!

 

"Yeah, that's perfect," I answered. Then I tied the other end to the railing of the balcony, making sure that the knot was tight enough, because I didn't want to kill Kisumi, just make him suffer for a few hours.

 

"Okay," I continued. "Now I'm going to lower you down a little bit, okay? I promise you won't fall, the knots are tight enough that won't happen."

 

Kisumi nodded and I started lowering him down. As soon as the rope was taut, I bolted back inside, shut the balcony door, and laid down on my side of the bed.

 

 

**~Kisumi~**

 

 

Sousuke lowered me off the balcony. I can't say I was all too scared. It was actually really exhilarating, feeling the wind in my hair, and the smell of the ocean...I could even see all of the others down on the beach. I tried waving to them.

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

I was still stuck in the middle. Sighing, I tilted my head upwards and saw a pink-haired figure dangling off the balcony of our room. They were waving to us. Was that...

 

"Kisumi...?" I asked, confused.

 

"What about Kisumi?" Ash asked.

 

I pointed up to our room and said, "He's hanging off the balcony waving to us." I started laughing a little bit. I mean, I understood it was dangerous and all, but it was hilarious how calm he was with being up a few hundred feet in the air.

 

"Hey, there's a person on the balcony he's hanging in front of," Ash pointed out.

 

"Hey wait a minute, is that...?"

 

 

**~Kisumi~**

 

 

After a little while, dangling off the balcony got boring.

 

"Hey Sousuke, can you pull me back up?" I called. I didn't hear an answer. I knew I yelled loud enough. "Sousuke?" I asked again. Still no answer. Looking up, I saw that he wasn't out on the balcony.

 

"Aw, come on," I sighed, and let my body go limp, to show my defeat. The rope turned me so that I came face to face with a person on the balcony I was in front of. They looked incredibly bewildered.

 

"Hey," I said in an I'm-trying-to-be-happy-but-it's-kind-of-hard-since-my-friend-left-me-hanging-off-the-balcony voice.

 

"Umm...hi," they said awkwardly. I couldn't help but notice how beautiful this guy was. He was about my age, and had bright orange hair that had a little cowlick in the front, amber eyes behind his rectangular, black-rimmed glasses, and the cutest little freckles.

 

"Do you mind giving me a hand?" I asked.

 

"Sure," he said, and reached out to grab the rope. I stepped onto the concrete outside the railing and carefully stepped over. He untied the rope from around my stomach and let it dangle off the balcony.

 

"So..." the guy began. "How exactly did you get into that postition?"

 

"One of the guys I'm rooming with in there was apparently annoyed with me and decided to hang me off the balcony..." I answered, kind of sighing.

 

"But you weren't with that group when you checked in," he said.

 

"I got here later," I said. "Hey, what'd you say your name was again?"

 

"Ummm....." the guy said. "How about we talk about that over frozen yogurt?"

 

I nodded, kind of confused, but followed him anyway.

 

 

"So," I began when we had our frozen yogurt and were sitting down. "I'm Kisumi. What's you name?"

 

He was silent for a moment, stirring his spoon in his yogurt. After a few more moments he spoke, "I...don't actually have one."

 

"Is that even legal?" I asked, surprised.

 

"Yeah, it is, in America, at least," he said. "Oh and nice Kisumi cosplay by the way. I  _ love _ Free!."

 

"It's not cosplay," I said. "I'm actually Kisumi."

 

"Okay," he said, unconvinced. "Anyway, I don't have a name because I was orphaned as a baby when my parents and sister were killed in a meteor shower. I never really bothered to pick a name, even though I could, if I wanted. I just go by Hotel Clerk, because I'm a hotel clerk."

 

"Hmm..." I said. "I think I'll call you Clerky, then."

 

Clerky just shrugged and continued talking: "I don't really have much money, so I can't pay for a house, so I live at the hotel right now, paying rent. Since I work here, the cost is cheaper than patrons of the hotel, something that I can actually afford. Before this, I lived with my boyfriend, but then...stuff happened, and, um, we broke up and I had to live at the hotel."

 

"Aw, I'm sorry," I said.

 

"It's fine, I didn't need him anyway," he said. "But, I've kind of always been outcast or overlooked. I guess _that's_ a little lonely."

 

My eyes widened a little bit. "I'm also kind of a misfit. When we went to dinner last night, they actually forgot to count me. They said, 'There's ten people in our party,' and I was like, 'No, there's eleven, don't forget me!' I get you..."

 

"Thanks," Clerky said with a cute little smile that could rival even Makoto's.

 

We chatted as we finished our fro-yo. After we were all done, Clerky said, "Well, I guess I'd better get going. See you!"

 

"Wait a second!" I said. "I, uh...don't have a room key..."

 

He laughed and said, "Okay, come on. I have a room key for you." We went back up to his room and he got me a key, and we bid each other goodbye.

 

Back in my room, I was the only one there. "He will be mine," I said decidedly, then went to take a nap.

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

So, apparently Kisumi met the hotel clerk and also apparently fell in love with him. So, that happened...The day finished up rather uneventfully. We had dinner, and then chilled out in the hot tub downstairs until ten or eleven, just kind of talking, laughing, telling stories, and maybe teasing each other a little bit. We finally turned in around eleven thirty.

 

 

**Moment Count:**

Rinharu - 2

Makoharu - 1

Reigisa - 2

Aimomo - 4

Sourin - 1

Soumako - 3

Nitori x Rin - 1

Haru x water – 2

 


	5. Chapter 5

**~Day 2~**

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

"Hey, Ash, remember when we tried to swim to Spain?" I asked the next morning as we were all heading down to the ocean with our towels slung over our shoulders.

 

"What is this about swimming to foreign countries?" Rin asked, jumping into the conversation. "Sounds fun," he added, smiling like when he did back when he was a little kid.

 

"Yeah, I remember that," Ash said.

 

Sousuke said, "You guys aren't going to swim to Spain. There's too much ocean in the way."

 

Rin turned around and stuck his tongue out at him. "I think that it's a great idea," he said. "And I'm going to do it." Then he started running off to the ocean, the rest of the Free! guys following after him, Sousuke in the lead.

 

"I hope he's not serious about it," I said.

 

"And if he is serious about going to Spain, he should at least get a helicopter or something," Ash added.

 

 

**~Rin~**

 

 

Of course I wasn't actually going to swim to Spain, but it was funny seeing Sousuke so irritated. When I got to the water's edge, I started wading out.

 

Once the water was about waist-deep, I turned around and called, "Hey Sousuke, I'm swimming to Spain! What're you gonna do about it?"

 

Annoyed, Sou started walking out to where I was. "I swear to God, Rin, if you even try..."

 

Because I knew it would push his buttons even more, I took a few more paces farther out. Once he was close enough, Sousuke tackled me, submerging us both in the water.

 

When we surfaced, he was glaring at me, so I said, "I do hope you know I was kidding." Then we started laughing.

 

Soon, a concerned Ai was by my side, saying, "Rin-senpai, are you okay?" I just kept laughing.

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

Watching Sousuke, Rin, and Nitori all interacting like that made me laugh and fangirl at the same time. It was just so cute!!! Ash made sure that she would write down a couple tallies when we got back.

 

For a while we continued swimming until Kisumi suggested that we go souvenir shopping. We all went back up (after getting Haru to agree to come with some difficulty) and changed into some non-swimsuit clothes.

 

We all met up on the ground floor outside the elevator. "Okay, so where to first?" Momo asked in his usual overly-excited voice.

 

"Uh, I don't know, where do you guys want to go?" I asked.

 

Haru looked up from a brochure and suggested, "The Gay Dolphin."

 

"Sure," I said. "Is that good with everyone else?" There were a number of head nods from mostly everyone except for Nagisa who wanted to visit some of the other shops along the way. I figured that we had plenty of time to do that.

 

So we kind of started walking along the street, wandering in and out of shops. Nagisa dragged Rei into every. Single. One. Most of the time we followed, until he led Rei by the wrist into Badd Kitty. They came back out maybe five minutes later. Nagisa looked like he always did, but Rei was keeping his head down with an incredibly embarrassed expression on his face. "I will never be able to unsee what I just saw," he announced when they came back. We all laughed and kept walking, Ash making another mark in the notebook.

 

We finally got to the Gay Dolphin. Nagisa, Momo, and Nitori all looked rather excited and seemed like they were about to run into the store. Before they did, however, I made sure to warn them that the store was really big and that it was kind of easy to get lost. Then I turned everyone loose to go do whatever.

 

 

**~Kisumi~**

 

 

As I was looking around at everything, making sure to keep a map in my head so I didn't get lost, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and saw Clerky smiling at me. Yeah, his smile was definitely more adorable than Mako's.

 

"Hey, Clerky," I said, smiling, likely with a hint of blush on my cheeks.

 

"Hi," he said. "You here alone?"

 

"No, the rest of my group is scattered around the store," I answered.

 

"And you haven't been hung off the balcony recently, right?"

 

I laughed and said, "No, don't worry. So...whatcha doing here?"

 

"Just sightseeing, I guess," he answered. "This is a pretty iconic store in Myrtle Beach."

 

"That's cool," I said. There was a bit of a pause until I asked, "Are you doing anything tomorrow?"

 

"No, I'm all free," he responded. "Why do you ask?"

 

"Um, well, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out or something," I said. "You could, like, meet me at my room and we could, like, go get dinner or something, maybe?"

 

Clerky gave me an easy smile and said, "Yeah, sure. What time?"

 

"Maybe around five-ish?" I suggested.

 

"Sounds good," he agreed. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

 

"Yeah, see you."

 

We both smiled at each other and Clerky walked off. Then a thought struck me. "Wait a second," I said to myself. "If he lives here, why is he sightseeing? And just walking off like that? That would make sense if I'd called him or something, but this is a store...Aww, what if he followed me here just to see me~? He's so cute..."

 

 

**~Makoto~**

 

 

Haru was a bit of a handful to deal with at the gift shop. As soon as we walked in, there was a fountain with this really elegant dolphin sculpture. But, you know, it was a fountain, so he started stripping down to his swimsuit, which he still had on. I had to pull him away, and it was really hard because he was trying to get over to the fountain saying, "The water is calling to me," or, "But the dolphins. They're my bretheren."

 

So, basically, I had to act as a mother duck to him the whole time. A few times, it looked like Ash and Katie were smiling at it, but I could have been hallucinating.

 

"Okay, I give," I said to no one in particular, and sat down. Rin came over and sat down next to me.

 

Lightly laughing, he said, "Bit of a handful, huh?"

 

Sighing, I answered, "Yeah..."

 

"Hey, do you know where Sousuke is?" he asked.

 

"Um, no, I think he wandered off on his own," I said. Then I sighed, remembering that he got lost easily.

 

Rin groaned, "Really...he'd ought to know better, especially since we were told that you can get lost easy in here. I guess we're gonna have to go find him. You up for it?"

 

"Yeah, sure," I answered, and walked off with Rin as I heard Ash and Katie say something about "two ships."

 

 

**~Sousuke~**

 

 

I had absolutely no clue where I was. I probably shouldn't have taken Katie's warning about the store so lightly...It was also probably a good idea to call someone.

 

I dialed Rin's number. It rang a few times before Rin picked up and said, "Sousuke, where are you? Hold on, lemme put it on speaker, Mako's looking for you with me." There was a tap as he hit the speaker button and then he said, "So where are you?"

 

"I'm not really sure," I answered. "Umm...there are some, like, bicycle plates or something with names on them."

 

"Oh, can you check and see if 'Rin' is there?" Rin said. I heard a sigh and Makoto's voice take over.

 

"Rin that's not going to help the cause," he said. "What else are you near?"

 

"Let me see," I said, turning around. "There are some t-shirts here that say, 'I got lost in the Gay Dolphin.'"

 

I heard Rin's laughter on the other end, and then he said, "You should get one of those shirts." I rolled my eyes, but still smiled a little because it was pretty ironic. I figured I probably would.

 

"So, can you guys come find me?" I asked, sorting through the rack to find one in my size.

 

"Maybe, what floor are you on?" Makoto asked.

 

"Umm, well I went up a floor from the entrance, then went down two, and then went up another, so I guess I'm on the same floor as the entrance."

 

"Alright, Sou," Rin said. "We're coming." Then the call ended and I was left to wait.

 

They showed up a couple minutes later. "There you are! So, did you find a nameplate that said 'Rin'?" Rin asked.

 

"I can't say I actually looked," I said.

 

Makoto was laughing and said, "Alright, come on. You should probably stick with us while you're in here." I nodded and walked back to the others with them.

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

The afternoon passed quickly and before we knew it, it was time for dinner.

 

"Where do you guys want to eat?" I asked. "Or we could probably throw something together, if you want."

 

"Yeah! Let's make something and then all eat on the balcony!" Nagisa suggested.

 

"That sounds like a great idea," I said. "What should we make, then?"

 

"I'm all for hamburgers or something," Rin said.

 

"Maybe throw a side of salad in?" Rei added.

 

Everyone nodded in agreement. "And some mackerel," Haru said.

 

I kind of laughed while saying, "Okay, so hamburgers, salad and makerel. I'm sure we can do it."

 

Ash, Haru, and I ended up cooking. Ash was on salads, Haru on makerel, and I was on the hamburgers. Surprisingly, everything turned out alright and the hotel didn't burn down.

 

We ate out on the balcony like Nagisa had suggested, conversing and laughing. At some point Sousuke asked, "Hey, Kisumi, what're you staring at?"

 

Kisumi had been staring off into space apparently, and was quickly snapped back to reality. He stuttered a little and then shut up, his face turning bright red.

 

"What were you thinking about, Kisumi?" we pressed.

 

"N-nothing," he said, his face turning an even deeper red. "It's just that...H-hotel Clerk and I are going to have dinner tomorrow night..."

 

"KISUMI'S GOT HIMSELF A DATE!" Rin yelled, making Kisumi sink even deeper into his embarrassment.

 

We all kind of laughed, and Nitori said, "Don't worry, Kisumi. We're all glad for you. Hope it goes well."

 

 

**~Makoto~**

 

 

After a nice dinner and relaxing on my own for a little bit, I decided to go take a shower. I walked into the one that seperates Rin's and Haru's room from Nitori's and Momo's.

 

What I did not know, however, was that Haru was already showering in there. I had walked in just as he was getting out.

 

My face flushed and I tilted my eys downward saying, "Sorry, Haru. I'll go now."

 

I could tell that Haru was just standing there all nonchalantly, as if this happened everyday. I walked out, face still red, and was approached by Ashlyn.

 

"What happened?" she asked.

 

"I accidentally walked in on Haru showering..." I mumbled, embarrassed.

 

For a second it almost looked like her eyes lit up, but more likely it was the light reflecting off of them funny. "Oh, okay," she said, and then walked off to go to sleep.

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

So, basically, it was a very normal day, and yeah. We were all kind of worn out from it and ended up going to bed around ten, which was kind of early, considering that we tended to stay up until around eleven or so. I couldn't wait to see what happened next. Ash and I wrote Kisumiclerk down as a new ship, and were most excited to see what happened with that.

 

 

**Moment Count:**

Rinharu – 2

Makoharu – 3

Reigisa – 3

Aimomo – 4

Sourin – 3

Soumako – 4

Nitori x Rin – 2

Haru x water – 2

Kisumiclerk – 2

 


	6. Chapter 6

**~Day 3~**

 

 

**~Rin~**

 

 

The day started normally with everyone heading downstairs to swim. Since for whatever reason no one was really in the pools under the overhanging, we decided to use them.

 

"Hey, Haru, let's race," I suggested after a litle while. "Only this time, we should do butterfly."

 

Haru paused, and turned away. Then he responded: "I only swim free."

 

I rolled my eyes, and said, "Yeah, I get that, but you could probably swim butterfly if you tried."

 

Haru's normally emotionless demeanor wavered for a second, and he looked slightly embarrassed as he said, "I...don't know how..."

 

"WHAT?!" Nagisa yelled, surprised. "Haru-chan doesn't know how to swim butterfly?!"

 

"I, uh...actually can ONLY swim free...I can't swim the others..." Haru said.

 

"Just like how I could only swim butterfly," Rei said. Haru nodded.

 

"Well, I guess I'm gonna have to teach you, huh?" I stated.

 

Haru started backing away from the edge of the pool where he was standing. There were some "Go on, Haru-chan"s and some "You can do it, Haruka-senpai"s said as the others pushed him towards the edge of the pool again. Once he was within arm's reach, I grabbed his foot and pulled him in. When he surfaced again, he glared at me, and I smiled back.

 

Haru sighed and said, "Fine. You can teach me how to swim butterfly."

 

"Okay," I began. "So, you kind of, like, move your arms in circular motions like this-" I demonstrated the arm movements. "and then you're just using a dolphin kick the whole time." I swam a lap to show him how it's done. "Okay, do you want to try?"

 

Haru nodded, and I stood beside him as he attempted – and failed – to swim butterfly. He sunk like a rock as soon as he started.

 

"Well, you have the right idea, you just need to stay above the water," I said. "Pretend you're the dolphin we all know you are. Kind of keep your head above the water when you lift your arms up."

 

So Haru tried again, and he seemed to get the hang of it a little more, although he was incredibly slow. But he was a fast learner it seemed.

 

"Much better," I said.

 

There were a few shouts from the peanut gallery (AKA: Ash and Katie), saying something like, "You go, Haru!" And I thought I saw Ash writing in her notebook again.

 

"How do you feel with butterfly?" I asked.

 

Haru thought for a moment and then said, "Fine. But I like free better. Maybe I'll practice butterfly more some other time." And with that, he swam away – freestyle – like the majestic mer-dolphin he is.

 

 

**~Rei~**

 

 

It was about lunchtime now. We decided to drive over to Bojangles' on 10 th Avenue. It was a chicken restaurant, as pretty much all of us except Ashlyn and Haruka-senpai were sick of seafood at the moment.

 

As we were eating, everyone was talking except for me. I was deep in thought. I was thinking about Haruka-senpai, and how he'd never known how to swim butterfly before, and already he was looking almost as beautiful as when he swam freestyle.

 

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Nagisa say, "Don't you think, Rei-chan?"

 

I looked up, startled and confused, and Nagisa repeated, "Don't you think Haru-chan was really impressive when he swam butterfly today?"

 

Really, Nagisa? With as cheerful a voice as I could muster, I said, "Yeah, Haruka-senpai, you were great."

 

Which he was. But it made me feel bad, like I wasn't quite good enough, and I didn't feel particularly beautiful...

 

 

When we got back, I was still in my mood. Nagisa had kept glancing at me with worried eyes since I spoke at lunch. He finally approached me while I was sitting on the bed in our room.

 

"Hey, Rei-chan?" he asked, stepping lightly into the room.

 

"Yeah?" I asked, looking at the ground.

 

"It seems like something's bothering you. Do you wanna talk about it?"

 

I hesitated for a bit before saying, "Well, it's just when Haruka-senpai was swimming butterfly today. He said that he never could before, and he didn't take hardly any time at all to catch on. It took me so long to do that, and he did it in a matter of minutes. I'm just not feeling very beautiful right now..."

 

"Aww, poor Rei-chan," Nagisa said. "Don't worry! Just because Haru-chan caught on quicker than you doesn't mean you're not beautiful. Haru-chan is just a faster learner, and he's been swimming for a lot longer than you have. I don't wanna hear you say that you aren't beautiful again, because it's not true. Okay, Rei-chan?"

 

I smiled a very grateful and genuine smile and said, "Of course, Nagisa. Thank you." I have to admit, I was so glad to have someone like Nagisa as a friend.

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

"Oh my God, that was so cute~!" I said to Ash as we fangirled like crazy and she marked in her notebook.

 

"I know!" she responded. "Ahhh...poor Rei-chan! He should do the butterfly project!"  **(A/N: For those who don't know, the Butterfly Project is a program that tries to teach teens – specifically girls – that they are capable, loveable, valueable, and beautiful, which we all are. So, to whoever is reading this, DON'T FORGET THAT!!! Okay, I'll let you get back to the story.)**

 

"I don't know, it looks like Nagisa's got it under control," I said.

 

Ash turned around and mock-glared at me. I mock-glared right back.

 

Checking my watch, I saw it was about 4:55. Hotel Clerk would be here in about five minutes. "Hey," I said. "Hotel Clerk's gonna be here in, like, five minutes."

 

"Yasss, my Kisumiclerk~!" Ash said.

 

I laughed and there was a knock at the door. "He's a little early. Hey Kisumi!!!" I called.

 

"I'VE GOT IT!!!" Kisumi's voice yelled.

 

 

**~Kisumi~**

 

 

I was so excited!!! Clerky was here now, and I was about to go out with him, just ahhhhhh!!!!!!!! I opened the door, and there he was, dressed in some nice jeans, a plain white t-shirt, and a red jacket. It was casual, but nice at the same time.

 

"Hey, Clerky," I said a little nervously.

 

"Hey," he said, smiling a warm cuter-than-Makoto smile.

 

Relaxing a little, I said, "Come on in." He walked in, and I called the others in to meet him.

 

"These are Haru, Rin, Makoto, Sousuke, Rei, Nagisa, Nitori, Momo, Ash, and Katie," I said, gesturing to each in turn.

 

"Wow, that is seriously good cosplay," he said. "What's it for?"

 

Ash and Katie looked at each other – Katie with concern and Ash with an, "It doesn't matter, just tell him," face – before Katie spoke. "It's not cosplay."

 

"Yeah, sure," Clerky said.

 

"No, trust us," Ash said. "We're not joking. They're the real deal. Have you even paused to wonder why every time you've seen Kisumi, he's in his quote-unquote 'cosplay?'"

 

Clerky stopped a second and considered. Then his eyes widened and lit up. "Oh my God..." he whispered. "That's so cool, how did they get here?!"

 

"We found a game at a Hot Topic back in Ohio, and it told us to believe, and brought them here," Katie answered. "Just don't tell anyone, okay? We don't need any unwanted attention."

 

Clerky nodded and crossed his heart. "Okay," he said. "So are we ready to go?"

 

"Yeah, sure," I said.

 

"We're expecting a fully-detailed account when you get back!" Ash called after us.

 

"And a five paragraph essay!" Katie added.

 

 

We ended up walking along the street until we came across a restaurant that sounded good for dinner. After we were seated and our drinks were brought out, Clerky talked a little. It was obvious he was at least a little more comfortable at this than me. Or, it seemed like it.

 

"So, you're the real Kisumi," he said.

 

"Yeah, I tried to tell you that," I said.

 

"I know, I'm sorry, I didn't know that something like that existed," he said. He paused for a moment. "That's just...awesome! And you're seriously my favorite character in that show. By the way, you deserve more time in the show, and more recognition."

 

I blushed. "Thanks," I said quietly.

 

Clerky smiled gently and said, "Are you nervous?"

 

I flushed an even deeper shade and stuttered, "Well, I, uh...yeah...I've never really been out with anyone before. Not saying this is like a date or anything! Unless you want it to be, I guess..." I hung my head and internally groaned at how stupid I sounded.

 

He just laughed at my awkwardness. "Don't worry about it," he said. "I consider it as one, so don't get too concerned about assuming."

 

I smiled with my head still down. He considered it as a date!!! Lifting my head up, I smiled at him a little. "Okay," I said. "Thanks."

 

Clerky nodded, and we continued to talk a little. "So, who was it that hung you off the balcony?" he asked.

 

"Oh, that was Sousuke." I laughed a bit remembering that event. Was that really only a couple days ago?

 

"Why'd he do that?" Clerky was laughing as well.

 

"Well, I don't really know. We were all playing mass game of monkey-in-the-middle when Sousuke got hit in the head by the frisbee, and went up to the room to get ice, so I followed him to make sure he was okay. He told me he was feeling better, and so I asked if we could go back down to continure the game, and he said no and suggested a game called spy, and then hung me off the balcony."

 

Clerky was laughing even harder now, knowing the full backstory. When he'd finally calmed down enough, he said, "Okay, wow. You didn't question it? Don't worry, I'm not judging you. It's kind of cute, actually."

 

Beaming on the inside, I answered, "No, I didn't question it; I didn't think that Sousuke would leave me hanging there off the balcony."

 

"Aww, poor Kisumi," Clerky said with mock sympathy, reaching over and resting his hand on mine.  _ YAYAYAYAY!!! _ , I was thinking. Then he drew it back after a few moments of silence.  _ NOOOOO!!! _

 

 

We ate our meal over some pleasant conversation. After we were done, we walked back down the street, and I rode the elevator up with him to drop him off at his room.

 

"Hey, can I get your number so we can keep in touch?" he asked at his door.

 

"Yeah sure," I said and gave him my number. "Let's do this again sometime. Or maybe you could come with us to the beach tomorrow?"

 

"Sounds cool," he said. "I'll text you in the morning. Night!"

 

"Night."

 

Back in the room, I was bombarded by questions. I ignored them, as it was pretty easy to see it went well by the perpetual smile that graced my face. I laid down on my couch and plugged my phone in, which had a message from an unrecognized number.

 

 

Hey, Kisumi! It's Clerky~!

 

 

I smiled and saved the number into my phone.

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

So, everything went well, as usual. You know, ships and stuff. It's cool. We went to sleep to be ready to greet another day.

 

 

**Moment Count:**

Rinharu – 3

Makoharu – 3

Reigisa – 4

Aimomo – 4

Sourin – 3

Soumako – 4

Nitori x Rin – 2

Haru x water – 2

Kisumiclerk – 3

 


	7. Chapter 7

**~Day 4~**

 

 

**~Nagisa~**

 

 

Today, Kisumi decided that he was gonna wait until Hotel Clerk showed up at the room before he went down to the beach with us. It was really cute how much Kisumi liked him, and it seemed like Hotel Clerk liked him, too. I sure hoped they got together and lived happily ever after.

 

So, the rest of us went down without him and went to the ocean. I was floating on my back with my legs halfway in the water. It was really calming and everything. Kisumi and Clerky came down after a while and joined our mob.

 

Everything was really nice, just chilling and all that, until I felt this sharp pain – kind of like stinging nettles.

 

I yelped and hopped to shore to find a jellyfish on my ankle. "Nagisa!" Rei-chan yelled, running over to me. "Are you alright?"

 

"Ow...I think I'll be fine, but get it off," I answered, leaning on him for balance.

 

We managed to get the jellyfish off and Rei-chan told Katie and Ash to go get some jellyfish sting solution or something. He helped me over to the ocean to rinse it out with saltwater. It burned even more and brought tears to my eyes. One of the lifegurads gave us something that was, like, seasoned salt mixed with water or something to put on it.

 

"Rei-can?" I asked. "Can we go upstairs?"

 

"Yeah, come on." He helped me into the elevator and up to our room.

 

 

**~Rei~**

 

 

As soon as Nagisa and I were upstairs, in the room, and in our room, I sent a quick text to Ash, telling them that we weren't on the beach anymore and started applying the mixture to Nagisa's sting.

 

Nagisa had his eyes clenched shut in pain, and tears were forming at the corners of his eyes. There were also a few that had ran down to the corners of his mouth.

 

"It's alright," I said in an attempt to comfort him. "I'm almost done." Nagisa nodded and whimpered.

 

I finished putting the stuff onto his ankle, and wrapped it with a towel until we could use the solution Ash and Katie were getting.

 

"Okay, I'm all done," I told Nagisa.

 

He opened up his eyes, which were kind of shiny now, and sighed. "Thanks, Rei-chan."

 

"Of course. Are you okay?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"It doesn't sting too bad anymore, does it?"

 

"A little, if I move it, I guess." Nagisa moved his ankle and winced to show me. "How did you learn to do that?"

 

"Well, I did study the theories on jellyfish."

 

Nagisa laughed his adorable little laugh and said, "Of course you did." There was a bit of silence; not awkward silence, just the silence that people can share without it being weird. Then Nagisa broke it, looked me straight in the eyes, and said, "That's something I've always admired about you, Rei-chan. You always are able to memorize theories and stuff about anything, and it just sticks in your brain like a kind of photographic memory. And you always try hard to do everything right, and you don't give up easily, and I just think that's really cool."

 

I felt my face heat up and my stomach flutter a little. "Th-thank you, Nagisa," I mumbled.

 

Nagisa chuckled a little at my embarassment and said, "Plus – like I said yesterday – you're beautiful. I meant it, you know."

 

"What?" I asked, but my puzzlement was cut short as I felt Nagisa's lips meet my own; they were incredibly soft, and gentle, and tasted a little like salt from either the ocean or the tears. When he broke off, hardly flushed at all, I was a stuttering mess. "Wh-what?" I asked again.

 

Nagisa giggled at my pink face and said, "Silly, Rei-chan. Don't you get it? I really like you! Like, like-like you!"

 

I blushed even more, and smiled, realizing that I did too, and so I told him. "I like-like you, too, Nagisa," I said, and leaned in to kiss him again.

 

But before I could, the door to our room was flung open, and Ash and Katie stood there. Ash dropped the bottle of jellyfish-sting-solution-stuff and started jumping up and down screaming, "OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP OTP!!!!!!!!!" Thank goodness the bottle was plastic.

 

Katie was beaming as well, with a smile that looked like her face was about to split open, and was likely internally screaming the same thing.

 

Nagisa was pretty much unfased, but did look a little pink from the embarassment of a moment being intruded upon. I, on the other hand, was shielding my face (which had turned the color of Rin's hair.)

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

"OH MY GOD, I'VE GOTTA WRITE, LIKE, A MILLION TALLIES IN MY NOTEBOOK!!!" Ash yelled, and ran off.

 

Picking up the jellyfish solution and handing it to Rei, I said, "Wow. Well, first of all, sorry for ruining your guys's moment. Second, you are really cute and I'm really glad you got together – so is Ash. Oh, hey, she's back. I'm gonna tell them about the whole Ship Game, okay?" I directed this last question to her.

 

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Ash answered, still fangirling from one of her ships becoming canon.

 

"Okay," I began. "So, when we were back in Ohio, Ash and I found this game at a store called Hot Topic called the Ship Game. A 'ship' in our pop culture is where we take two somethings – people, places, things – and think that they'd be cute in a relationship. When we do that, we ship them. This is what the Ship Game was all about. It told us to pick any fandom and believe in its characters, so we chose the one you guys are from, and you all appeared here. So, Ash and I took bets on some of the ships. I ship you guys, Rin and Haru, Sousuke and Makoto, and Nitori and Momo. Ash ships you guys, Rin and Sousuke, Makoto and Haru, and Nitori and Momo. We also ship Nitori with Rin and Haru with the water, but those are more like a one-sided ship and a crack-ship. Anyway, so Ash has been keeping tallies of all the 'moments' you all have had over the week."

 

Both Rei and Nagisa looked a little bit bewildered, but nodded anyways. "And don't tell the others," Ash said. "Let it be a surprise to them as well."

 

They nodded again. "Okay, well we'll go and let you fix Nagisa's ankle. Come back down when you're all done," I said.

 

"Or stay up here and do Reigisa things," Ash said, winking.

 

I laughed as we walked back downstairs.

 

 

**~Kisumi~**

 

 

Clerky stayed to eat lunch with us, but decided to leave around four-ish.

 

"Aww..." I said, a little disappointed.

 

"You can stop by anytime, but right now I've gotta go be a hotel clerk," he said. "I'll text you later!" He smiled and waved.

 

"Goodbye," I called to his back.

 

_ I'm gonna see him tomorrow, _ I thought.  _ Maybe I can chill at his place. And, like, what weird state of relationship is this? We've gone on a date, and it seems like he likes me, and I know that I like him, but we aren't officially a couple. Hmm...maybe I should ask him what he thinks tomorrow. _

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

Dinner was nice. We went to the Ella's of Calabash seafood restaurant (which is technically in North Carolina, but it's pretty much on the border.) I remembered my first trip to Myrtle Beach, when Dad brought me, my sister, Ash, her two sisters, and Ash's mom here and Ash's youngest sister told me to kill myself with a crab. I wasn't sure if I should've been offended by that or not, but I laughed anyway, because this was, like, a six or seven year old saying this.

 

I told this story to the rest of the table, who all laughed. Well, all except Rei and Nagisa who seemed to kind of be lost in each other's eyes, which I thought was really cute. I mean, it would've been nice if they'd listened, too, but, hey – the new couple got to have a bit of a moment.

 

Until Rin asked, "Hey, lovebirds! Were you even listening?"

 

The two snapped back to reality in confusion. We all laughed. "You guys are really freaking cute, by the way," I said, as Ash marked a tally into her notebook underneath the table. Just because it was canon didn't mean we weren't still going to keep track of the moments.

 

We got back, relaxed in the hot tub for a little bit, and then went back upstairs and went to sleep.

 

 

**Moment Count:**

Rinharu – 3

Makoharu – 3

Reigisa (canon) – 6

Aimomo – 4

Sourin – 3

Soumako – 4

Nitori x Rin – 2

Haru x water – 2

Kisumiclerk – 3

 


	8. Chapter 8

**~Day 5~**

 

 

**~Haru~**

 

 

"Haru? What's that on your shoulder? It looks like a bite mark," Katie said when I walked out of mine and Rin's room with my swimsuit already on. Yes, of course I sleep in my swimsuit.

 

I looked down at my shoulder where, yes, there was a bite mark. It was an accident though. "It is," I answered.

 

"Well, where did you get it from?!" she pressed, concerned.

 

By this time, Rin was awake and groggily walking out of our room. "What's going on?" he asked. "Why's everyone standing around out here?"

 

"Katie's asking me where the bite mark you gave me came from," I answered.

 

"Whoa! Wait a second! Did I just hear that Rin bit Haru on the shoulder?" Ash asked, coming into the room.

 

Rin, flustered, answered, "I didn't mean to, it was an accident...My teeth accidentally knocked against his shoulder..."

 

"And how exactly does that happen?" Katie asked.

 

"I think he was just trying to kiss my shoulder, but he failed," I said.

 

"Haru!" Rin yelled at me, his ears turning pink.

 

"What? That's what happened," I said. "It's not my fault your teeth are sharp."

 

"Does this mean what I think it does?" Katie asked with her eyes lighting up. "Are you and Haru...?"

 

Rin didn't answer and covered his face, all of which had turned a deep shade of pink. I answered for him: "If you're asking if I'm his boyfriend now, then yes."

 

"Ahhhhhh.........!!!!!!!!" she yelled. "Oh my God it's so cute!!!"

 

"How did that even happen?" Ash asked. She didn't look quite as happy as Katie, but still fairly pleased.

 

"Well..." I said.

 

 

_**~Flashback~** _

 

 

_It was around ten thirty, and we'd all just gotten back. I was laying on my side of the bed, and Rin had just gotten out of the shower. He always dressed in the bathroom, and towel dryed his hair in the room._

 

_He sat down on the opposite side of the bed to dry it. I figured I should probably say it. "Thanks," I said._

 

_"For what?" he asked, slinging his towel around his shoulders._

 

_"For teaching me to swim butterfly," I answered._

 

_He twisted around to face me. "That? Well, yeah, sure. I didn't even know you couldn't swim it."_

 

_I turned my head away from him. I heard a rustle as Rin laid down on his back beside me. "You looked almost as amazing swimming it as you do swimming freestyle. It's a hard stroke to swim, I was pretty impressed that you caught on so quick."_

 

_"Thanks," I said quietly. There were a few moments of silence._

 

_"Remember in Australia how I told you how I'd always sort of admired you and was inspired by you?" Rin asked softly. I turned to face him and nodded. He looked back up at the ceiling. "Well, what I didn't tell you was that by putting you on that pedestal, I kind of..." He trailed off, seemingly nervous about something._

 

_"You kind of what?" I asked._

 

_"I kind of started to like you...a lot...and I still do..." he finished. I was silent. Rin liked me? Why? That didn't make sense. **(A/N: What are emotions?)** I turned over on my side to face him better._

 

_"Nothing?" he asked, facing me. "Not even one comment? Fine, then. It doesn-" I cut him off, pressing my lips to his. It was actually kind of nice. Kind of weird, but nice. I broke off after a little bit._

 

_Rin paused for a moment. "That is an acceptable comment," he said. I smiled a little. Yes, I actually emoted. I found that it was easier to do so after Rin told me that, and I realized that I liked him too. He then put his arm around me in a sort of hug, and I think he honestly did intend to kiss my shoulder, but accidently bit it._

 

_"Ow," I said. I looked down at my shoulder which had started bleeding._

 

_"Oh my God, Haru, I'm sorry!" Rin said._

 

_"Don't worry about it," I said, wiping the blood away. "It's not too bad."_

 

 

_**~End of Flashback~** _

 

 

"There is no need to explain that, Haru!" Rin said. I just shrugged.

 

"So are we going to go swimming or what?" I asked, and everyone laughed.

 

 

**~Kisumi~**

 

 

I decided to stay back for two reasons. One: I, personally, was sick of the ocean, and two: I wanted to see if I could visit Clerky. I tried texting him.

 

 

Hey, Clerky~! I was wondering if I could come over or something.

 

 

I waited for a while. After it had been over five minutes with no response, I was a little confused. I texted him a couple more times, and then tried to call him, but it went to voicemail. Needless to say, I was getting a little worried.

 

A few minutes after I called him for the fifth time, my phone rang and I picked it up. It was from Clerky's number.

 

"Hello?" I asked.

 

"Hi, this is a nurse at Grand Stand Medical Center. Do you know this person you're trying to call? We can't seem to find any sort of identification on him," the voice on the other end said.

 

_ Medical center? _ "Umm..." I began, unsure of where to start. "Well, he doesn't actually have a name. He was orphaned as a child, and never decided to take a name. He calls himself Hotel Clerk, because he is a hotel clerk. Is he okay?"

 

"He should be okay in a day or two," the other line said. "He was hit by a car – it wasn't very bad, though – and his arm was broken. We're admitting him for now."

 

"Can I talk to him?"

 

"I'm sorry, but right now he's asleep from some anesthetic. You can come here if you want, though." The nurse gave me the address.

 

"Okay." I hung up, and texted Ash to let her and Katie know that Clerky was in the hospital, sent them the address, and told them I was going.

 

I didn't know how to drive, so I took a taxi instead. It got me to the hospital quickly, and I managed to get myself to Clerky's room.

 

"Oh, hello," a nurse said. "You must be the person I was speaking with on the phone. He's just waking up now."

 

So he was. "Kisumi?" he asked. "How'd you get here?" He was still a little disoriented from the anesthetic, it seemed. "Why am I in a hospital...?"

 

"You were hit by a car, and your arm was broken, so the nurse tells me," I answered.

 

Clerky was in thought for a moment. "That's right," he said, the clouds from his memory seeming to lift. "That idiot. Ran a red light when I was walking across a crosswalk. He was drunk! It wasn't even six in the evening! Gosh...some people are so rude. I kind of dodged him, but he did catch my arm. It got whipped back and there was a loud crack. It hurt like hell. Some people ran over to make sure I was alright, and one of them called the ambulance, and now here I am."

 

By this time, the nurse had left. I sat down on the bed. "God, are you alright? Well, obviously not, but-"

 

I was cut off by Clerky laughing. "What?" I asked.

 

"Nothing," he said, still chuckling a little. "I just think it's really cute how awkward you can be sometimes."

 

I blushed and smiled at him. "Thanks," I said. "Oh yeah, I was meaning to ask, do you consider me, like, your boyfriend?"

 

"Well, I could. But it depends on whether or not you do."

 

I smiled brightly and said, "Definitely."

 

And so was the start of Clerky and I.

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

"Katie," Ash said, suprisingly seriously for this week. "Kisumi texted me a little while ago. I just now got it. He says Hotel Clerk is in the hospital, and that he went there."

 

"Oh my God," I said, worried. "Did he say what happened?" Ash shook her head. "We need to go. Hey guys!" I called to the others. "Ash and I need to go somewhere right now. Until we get back, Makoto is in charge."

 

The others nodded in agreement and continued on with whatever they were doing. Ash and I took the van to the address and went up to the room.

 

When we got there, we found Kisumi sitting on the bed next to Hotel Clerk, holding hands.

 

"OHMYGODIT'SSOCUTE!!!"Ash yelled, making a mark in her notebook. Kisumi blushed, and Hotel Clerk just looked confused.

 

"What are you guys doing here?" Kisumi asked.

 

"We came because you said Hotel Clerk was in the hospital and you sent the address. Why would we not come?" I answered.

 

"It doesn't look too serious," Ash said. "What even happened?"

 

"I was hit by a car and broke my arm," Hotel Clerk explained. In a lower voice he muttered, "Freaking drunk drivers..."

 

"Well, how long are you planning on staying here, Kisumi?" I asked.

 

"I don't really know," he said.

 

"Alright, well just send us a text, and we'll come pick you up," I said. "Don't forget to eat food."

 

Ash and I went back to the hotel. The others were all wondering where Kisumi was, so we explained what happened.

 

 

**~Makoto~**

 

 

Kisumi did come back home for dinner. He and Hotel Clerk are officially boyfriends. No shocker there, really, but I was happy for him, of course.

 

But recently, I thought that I'd been seeing Sousuke looking at me out of the corner of my eye a lot. For a bit, I thought that I was just seeing things, but after the first fifteen times I thought I saw it, I started getting a little suspicious.

 

I had just finished taking a shower, so I walked out into our room. Sousuke looked oddly surprised, and tried to hide what looked like a notebook.

 

His normal indifferent demeanor was restored quickly as he said, "I'll go shower now." He left, leaving the notebook out on the bed. I dressed quickly and walked over to it.

 

Now, normally I wouldn't snoop around like this, but I was curious as to why Sousuke was so flustered when I walked in. I opened it up and began to read the first page. It started the night we left for Myrtle Beach.

 

 

Entry 1:

So, I picked this journal up at the first stop for gas on the way to Myrtle Beach. I figure that I'll just write each day during the week or something. Why not, right? Anyway, we're out of Ohio, which was corn...corn...more corn...some construction...and even more corn. Yeah, I decided that I'd just keep my head down and rest my eyes.

-Sousuke

 

Entry 2:

End of the day. We're finally at the hotel. I'm sharing a room (and a bed) with Makoto~! Honestly, although I probably don't show it, I really kind of like him. He's really sweet, and really nice, and very very adorable. He's asleep right now. So peaceful. Guess I should probably go to sleep, too.

-Sousuke

 

Entry 3:

Well, a recap of today. I got Makoto to come in the ocean. I never knew he was afraid of it. He's surprisingly good at hiding stuff like that. And then I got hit in the head with a frisbee, so I hung Kisumi off the balcony. I'm pleasantly surprised that I didn't get into any trouble for that. Hey, the kid was getting on my nerves. And it was his own fault for not realizing that I was going to hang him off the balcony. Anyway, that's about it.

-Sousuke

 

Entry 4:

So, today Rin tried to swim to Spain. Yeah, he didn't get very far. And then we went to a gift shop called the Gay Dolphin. Made me think of Haru. Anyway, I got lost, and Rin and Makoto had to come help me. But I got a shirt there that said "I got lost in the Gay Dolphin." Kind of ironic that I got lost next to them. Kind of funny at the same time. Nothing much else to say.

-Sousuke

 

Entry 5:

Turns out that Haru, the amazing swimmer he is, cannot swim anything other than freestyle. Wow. So, Rin decided to teach him butterfly. I know how much Rin likes Haru, too. I came pretty close to teasing him in front of the others, but that would be kind of mean, considering it was a secret. Rei was kind of depressed today for whatever reason, but Nagisa got him over that. Then, Kisumi went on a date with Hotel Clerk, which went well, it seems.

-Sousuke

 

Entry 6:

Well. Rei and Nagisa are a couple now. Why did I not see that coming? Nagisa got stung by a jellyfish, and Rei went to help, and now they're together. I wonder if Makoto...I don't know. It'd be cool if he was my boyfriend, though. That's kind of what I've been thinking about today. And yesterday, the day before that, the one before that...you get the idea. Anyway, goodbye...

-Sousuke

 

Entry 7:

So now Rin and Haru are together. AND Kisumi and Hotel Clerk. I really wish I could ask Makoto out, or that he'd ask me or something. Maybe I can

 

 

Sousuke stopped writing there. I was amazed. Truth was, I kind of liked Sousuke, too. Although he was kind of reserved, he had a softer side, I could tell. The way he helped me get over my fear of the ocean proved that.

 

The door opened and Sousuke walked in, dressed already. Then he noticed the open journal next to me, and he freaked out, his cheeks turning pink.

 

"Oh my God, you didn't read any of it, did you?" he asked, walking over, snatching it up and shutting it.

 

Nervously, I nodded my head. Sousuke groaned and flopped down onto the bed. "I expect you're really freaked out now," he said, his arm covering his eyes.

 

I rested my hand on the arm not covering his face.. "Not at all," I answered. "In fact quite the opposite. I like you, too. I didn't know you liked me."

 

Sousuke lifted the arm on his face, and I laced my other hand with his. "Really?" he asked. I nodded, smiling a little. He broke out into a smile. A genuine one that you don't see come from Sousuke very often.

 

We ended up falling asleep kind of cuddled into each other.

 

 

**Moment Count:**

Rinharu (canon) – 4

Makoharu – 3

Reigisa (canon) – 6

Aimomo – 4

Sourin – 3

Soumako (canon, but Katie and Ash don't know) – 4

Nitori x Rin – 2

Haru x water – 2

Kisumiclerk (canon) – 4

 


	9. Chapter 9

**~Day 6~**

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

The trip was starting to come to a close. We only had today and tomorrow left, and tomorrow we would start heading home.

 

We had breakfast as usual, and started voting on what we wanted to do today. "Okay, so I take it we're all sick of swimming," I began. Haru raised a hand to object, but I cut him off. "Except for Haru, but that's not the point. So – Mako, Sousuke, are you guys even listening!"

 

Makoto and Sousuke had been off in their own little world, and were snapped back to the real world quickly. "And where are your guys' hands?"

 

Makoto lifted up his and Sousuke's intertwined hands. "Sorry, Katie," Mako apologized. "We'll listen now."

 

"Wait, are you guys dating now?" Ash asked. Both of them nodded, Makoto enthusiastically, and Sousuke shyly.

 

"Awwww~~~!" I said as Ash marked a tally under the table. Eventually we decided to kind of take a relaxation day. We kind of just lounged around, went swimming if we wanted to, but mostly did nothing.

 

"We only have one more ship left to be canon," Ash said, looking at her notebook. "Just Aimomo now."

 

"Wonder if that'll happen on this trip," I muttered.

 

"Did I hear my name?" Momo asked, bounding into the room with Nitori following him.

 

"Uh, yeah, probably," I answered. Ash gave me a look like, "You know what, whatever, they can know about the ship journal, it's almost the end of the trip."

 

"Basically," she began. "We were talking about how we were waiting for you guys to get together."

 

Nitori and Momo just blinked at us. Then Nitori spoke up and said, "We already are. We have been this whole trip."

 

Now Ash and I just kind of blinked at them. Ash fangirled some and marked a tally in her notebook.

 

 

The whole day we just lazed around. Hotel Clerk came back from the hospital and hung with us. Kisumi decided that at the end of this trip, he would stay here with him. We (as in Ash and I) were kind of sad about that, but we didn't say he couldn't. It was his life and his love.

 

At the end of the day we went down to the beach to watch some fireworks that were being let off at the dock a number of hotels down. We all wandered upstairs eventually and got packed for leaving in the morning.

 

 

**~Kisumi~**

 

 

After I got all my stuff together, I brought it into Clerky's room.

 

"Are you sure you don't want to go back with them?" he asked, resting his hand on my arm.

 

"Yeah, don't worry," I answered. "I want to be around you. Also, come with me real quick."

 

Clerky followed me downstairs, and across the beach. We kept walking way past the hotels until we got to a small-ish house – perfect for two people. Then we stopped, and I gestured to it saying, "Ta-da!"

 

Clerky looked a little confused. "What?" he asked.

 

"This can be our home," I said. "I believed it here, as well as enough money to mantain it. You don't have a real home, and I was hoping that you could make this your home."

 

Clerky made a tiny gasping sound, and put his hand to his mouth. There were little happy tears at the corners of his eyes. He couldn't seem to get any words out, so he just threw his arms around me instead.

 

 

**~Day 7~**

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

Finally it was morning. I got breakfast going, and then woke everybody up. We ate, lightly conversing, but soon it was time to go.

 

We rode down a floor to drop Kisumi off with Hotel Clerk, and to bid them both goodbye.

 

"It was great to meet you all!" Hotel Clerk said, waving.

 

Kisumi, also waving, said, "You had better come visit sometime!"

 

"We will!" I called back.

 

 

The ride home was a little quieter than before. But there were no annoying Nagisa voices asking if we were there yet, so I had less of a headache.

 

Once we were back home, Ash and I knew that we'd have to send them back.

 

"I guess we'll see you guys later," I said.

 

"We'll make sure to believe you here at some point in time!" Ash said.

 

The Free! guys all said their goodbyes, and they were gone.

 

"I really hope we see them again someday," I said. "Oh yeah, and you owe me one hundred dollars."

 

Ash grumbled, but still laughed a little as she handed me the money.

 

 

**Final Moment Count:**

Rinharu (canon) – 4

Makoharu – 3

Reigisa (canon) – 6

Aimomo – 5

Sourin – 3

Soumako (canon) – 5

Nitori x Rin – 2

Haru x water – 2

Kisumiclerk (canon) – 4

 


	10. Epilogue

**~Six Years Later~**

 

 

**~Katie~**

 

 

Ash and I are now out of college. I became a successful novelist, teach creative writing at my old high school, and am now married to the guy I've dated since seventh grade.

 

Ash is a movie director and also a novelist. She directs movies based both of our books, and is now very famous.

 

Of course we still keep in touch with the Free! guys, who are all doing well, by the way. We believe them over here every so often to hang out, ususally for holidays. One time, we all went down to South Carolina to visit Kisumi and Clerky. Apparently, all of them had a conspiracy going that they'd all get married that week at one giant wedding party.

 

So that was what happened when we found a simple little game at Hot Topic. It was a crazy amazing adventure, and God was I glad I got to be part of it.

 

 

**~The End~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much if you suffered through until the end! I bet this was ridiculous, but I had a lot of fun writing it, and my stepsister Ashlyn had a lot of fun giving me moral support while I typed it. This was the first fanfiction I have actually finished, so I'm very proud of it. Thank you all~! Bye~!


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